


Dream catcher, dream keeper

by BaileyBelle



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 21:53:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5065744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaileyBelle/pseuds/BaileyBelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dark One, Emma Swan, explorers her Killian Jones' dreams with the aid of a magical dream catcher. Dreams reveal hope and despair. Which will Emma find?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream catcher, dream keeper

As the Dark One, Emma no longer slept.

There were some perks, like having time to be productive. However, the night was lonely. King Arthur's castle was empty and her footsteps halls echoed down the halls. The castle inhabitants slept, cozy in their warm beds with pleasant dreams or entombed in their rooms in a tangle of sheets with nightmares.

Emma missed dreams.

The first time it happened had been an accident. She had been making a dream catcher while thinking of Hook, of their shared kiss in the meadow, and wondering whether he was dreaming of her. The moment she tied the final knot, the dream catcher's strings glowed as if they had been set on fire. Emma blinked against the light, and watched, fascinated, as the dream catcher turned into a mirror. A view into Killian's dream.

A ship, at sea, tossed by storm and waves. Killian battling control of the helm as his men tied down cargo, and tended to the sails. Above him, a swirling mass of grey clouds spat rain and hurled lightening around the ship. Killian cried out as a bolt hit the mast, traveled down a dangling chain and into the water, killing the crewman hauling it up.

Concerned, Emma touched the edge of the dream catcher, and fell into the dream. Suddenly she was the storm, angry at the sailors stealing life from the sea, emptying their debris into the harbors, and cursing at the wind that refused to favor their sails. Her rage swirled around the ship, battering its fragile canvass and pushing against the seams and loose boards in the water. For a moment, the rage was so intense that Emma forgot about being Emma, the Dark One, and Killian's girlfriend. She howled and threw her might against this parasite of the sea. It was only when Killian stumbled against a particularly strong gust of wind and drenching wave that Emma remembered who she was.

Calling on her sudden powers over nature, Emma calmed the winds. The sailors looked up as the clouds parted and drifted away, revealing bright tropical sun. Killian squinted into the sun and began barking orders towards the men gawking at the dead sailor instead of tending to the battered ship.

\---

As the Dark One, Emma no longer slept.

The streets of Storybrooke were empty at night. The park's swings empty of school children, the general store's windows dark, no Henry pursuing the comic books. Even the gulls were quiet at the docks, the lapping of small waves was the only sound on the docks as Emma approached Killian's ship. The dream catcher swung in her hand, its strings gently humming with magic. After the abrupt end of their conversation on the Jolly Roger, Emma had to know. She had to know if Killian still dreamed of her. Whether he dreamed of kissing the Savior, or tossed in a nightmare while battling the Dark One. The night would reveal what his true feelings about the Dark Swan. Emma touched the edge of the dream catcher, and entered his slumbering thoughts.

Killian was wandering in a hall of mirrors, touching each one. Every twisting path lead him to a new mirror, a new reflection of older versions of himself. He saw the burning torches and rage at his brother's death. His hardened battle cry in the months that followed, a blur of memories of blind rage. He saw the rum take over, his crew nearly abandon their reckless captain, until Smee stepped in and started a rum ration for everyone on the ship.

He saw Captain Hook wander from brothel to brothel, trying to find a replacement for his brother's love in the arms of faceless women bought with coins. He saw the first meeting with Milah, his initial reaction of treating her like those women put in check by Millah's sharp tongue and independent spirit. For a time, the mirrors showed happy images of peaceful trade and many adventures, all with Milah by his side. He lingered, leaning on the mirror that showed the day Milah was killed. The Captain Hook in that mirror was cold, hard, unyielding, and relentless in his pursuit of revenge. He could not bear to watch as that Killian betrayed every woman that trusted him. Ursula. Ariel. Heck, even Cora.

And then Killian's twisting path lead him to a mirror that showed a blonde-haired woman in a red leather jacket. Who gave him sass and poked holes in all his defenses. Abandoned him, fought him, and finally trusted him. With her town, with her family and son, and finally with her heart.

Killian reached the end of a twisting corridor and stopped, as the paths forked. One path was wide and dark, radiating with power, and that dark Captain Hook smirked down the halls as he stood by the most powerful sorceress in all the realms. The other path was narrow, winding, and twisted around such that Killian couldn't see what was around the corner. It was not dark, but it was empty. Only loneliness radiated from these mirrors. The Killian in those mirrors was a broken man, seeking comfort in being a father figure to Henry and a friend to Belle and Robin, but always knowing, deep down, the hole in his life that was Emma Swan.

Emma found herself a part of the dream, her seductive voice echoing down the dark path, calling to Killian until he clapped his hands over his ears. Emma's dark magic gently swirled around him, tugging at his clothes, urging him towards the wide path of power. Killian cried out, falling to his knees with his hands still over his ears. His face twisted in panic, mirrored in the glass surface of the floor.

"No!" Killian cried. "You can't make me choose!" Desperate to drown out the noise from the winds that clawed at him, Killian began pounding a fist on the mirrored floor. Again and again, striking with his hook while his right arm clapped around his ears.

The floor cracked. Splintered. Glass spidered to the walls, and then the whole floor collapsed in a tinkling waterfall of shards. Killian plunged into the darkness.

\---

Emma came back to herself on the dock beside the Jolly Roger. To her right, a lantern flared in the back cabin. Killian was awake, and her question remained unanswered.


End file.
